In the sky, as the Tyranid bio-ship plummeted, its massive frame withered from the inside out. By the time it reached the ground, there was no impact; its body had turned to dust, merging with the very fabric of the planet.
The Withering Cannon.
This was the new anti-Tyranid weapon Zhou Ye had been developing over the past few years, having churned out over a thousand of them.
Weren't the Tyranids just beggars from beyond the galaxy, coming here for a meal?
Since they wanted to beg, then sorry, he would smash their rice bowls. This weapon was most effective against Tyranids and the forces of Nurgle, but it wasn't omnipotent. Its efficacy was tied to its power output, but the cannons Zhou Ye had built were specifically designed for space combat against the Tyranids. As long as a macro-cannon or lance battery could blast an opening in their exterior, a single shot from a Withering Cannon into the breach would produce spectacular results.
Tyranid bioforms evolved at an extremely rapid pace, but mere evolution was useless here. The Authority of the Imaginary required psychic energy to resist. The exterior carapaces of these Tyranid bio-ships possessed high resistance.
Their insides, however, were a different story. Once the outer defense was breached, a shot to the interior would be devastatingly effective.
Simple evolution was not enough. The Great Devourer would need to consume vast amounts of biomass and convert it into psychic energy to defend against this. But that would mean the resource cost for every single Tyranid unit would increase a hundred, or even a thousand-fold.
This time, Zhou Ye had no intention of recreating the Devastation of Baal. He was going to have a joyous Waaagh! with these creatures right here in the Underworld System.
---o---
On the ground, the Hive Tyrant's face, if it could be called that, twisted with an expression of shock. To be honest, it was truly terrified. As a being directly linked to the Hive Mind and acting as its proxy, this was the first time it had ever witnessed such a phenomenon.
Such a massive bio-ship, so much biomass, had simply turned to ash and smoke. In that instant, the Tyrant felt a singular emotion: 'pain'. A deep, soul-wrenching 'pain'!!!
Then, another Withering Bomb was dropped from the sky. This one was specially calibrated by Zhou Ye, another weapon designed specifically to counter the Tyranids. It was a modified version of the Imperium's Exterminatus-grade Virus Bomb.
After his careful adjustments, it would not affect living creatures. But under its influence, the power of decay would spread rapidly through the planet's atmosphere. Its sole purpose was to decompose corpses.
Before the Hive Tyrant could recover from its shock, something even more terrifying happened. The mountains and seas of corpses, just like the bio-ship, began to rapidly decay and transmute.
Even across the gulf of realspace, the roar of the Great Devourer echoed from the Warp.
"NURGLE!!!"
The roar coalesced into a word that meant roughly that. As a transmigrator, Zhou Ye knew the weak points of every xenos race in Warhammer and had developed specific tactics to exploit them.
Against Tyranids, you had to smash their rice bowl. Against the Eldar, you just had to guarantee their souls wouldn't be snatched by Slaanesh. Against the Necrons, you could use the restoration of their souls as a bargaining chip.
The only ones he felt helpless against were the Orks. You just had to fight them head-on. But even then, not entirely. With a few adjustments, the Withering Bomb could also kill Ork fungal spores, preventing them from replenishing their numbers.
The Deathwatch were the false experts on xenos. The true expert was the Omnissiah, Zhou Ye.
"My Lord, you've finally come!!!"
From deep within the fortifications below, Aslot rushed out, practically on the verge of tears. If he had an emoji, you could almost see a cute, crying cat face.
Of course, his presence deep within the defenses wasn't due to cowardice. As the strongest warrior here, he had to conceal himself. Against this Hive Tyrant, for instance, if the Lamenters' suicidal melta bomb attack had worked but failed to kill it completely, he would have been the final reserve, leading a charge of Lamenters to forcibly decapitate it.
He had remained hidden to prevent the Hive Tyrant from becoming cautious. After all, this was the very same Tyrant that had nearly killed Dante on Baal; its combat prowess was not to be underestimated.
But that was no longer necessary, because that Lord's reinforcements had finally arrived.
As long as that Lord launched his attack, everything would be alright.
---o---
In orbit, aboard the bridge of the Hyperion, Zhou Ye frowned as he surveyed the ruinous state of the Underworld System.
"Where is the Imperial Navy?"
Zhou Ye was somewhat stunned to find that while every planet in the system was resisting the Tyranid invasion with all its might, the Imperial Navy was nowhere to be seen. He was, after all, a "cloud-hammer." He was more familiar with the later Battle of Baal; his knowledge of the preceding Battle of the Underworld System was limited.
He could only remember the general outline, but that wasn't a problem. This was Warhammer; you never knew where events would lead. A single flap of a butterfly's wings could completely alter the course of the world.
He remembered clearly that the Administratum and the vermin on the High Lords of Terra, for once, had not engaged in their usual abstract art. They had correctly predicted the vector of this tendril of the Hive Fleet.
They had mobilized all available forces before the Great Rift opened to reinforce the Shield of Baal in the Underworld System. And because they were facing the Tyranids—a public enemy of the galaxy in both realspace and the Warp—for once, none of the Chaos Gods had interfered. They had even given events a subtle push. But what now appeared before Zhou Ye was a system of chaotic, embattled worlds.
Countless distress signals were practically blowing up his comms, but unfortunately, only he, nearby, could receive them. Their signals were being severely jammed.
With a single order from Zhou Ye, the ships that had just completed their jump, arriving amidst a thousand streaks of light, instantly deployed into battle formation.
The Tyranid tendril fleet, after its initial confusion, began to regroup, intending to devour Zhou Ye's Hyperion. Then they stared, dumbfounded, at the colossal fleet that had assembled almost instantaneously. The space battle commenced immediately.
"Have the Navy and the fleets equipped with Withering Cannons push forward. The remaining companies are to disperse and support ground operations on the various planets."
There was little hesitation; this had been simulated countless times. With the super-computational power of Prometheus and the coordinated efforts of the Armed Puppets, they maneuvered with a dexterity that did not belong in the Warhammer universe.
In the 41st Millennium, the ban on AI meant that even loading a warship's cannons required a crew of manual laborers. Combined with the sheer size of the vessels and the fact that nearly every process was handled by humans, this created significant delays in overall coordination and flexibility, no matter how well-trained the crew.
The cannons needed to be aimed by men, the shells loaded by men. This made their efficiency incomparable to Zhou Ye's integrated warships. Furthermore, upon detecting the arrival of Zhou Ye's fleet and rapidly establishing contact, the planetary defense platforms still under human control began to fire wildly in coordination with their movements.
In the next moment, the Tyranids learned the meaning of precise fire saturation.
Macro-cannons and lances struck weak points with pinpoint accuracy, blasting open the outer defenses of the Tyranid ships. A few more shots from the Withering Cannons followed, flying through the breaches to blossom within.
The entropic power would spread rapidly through the bio-ship's interior, instantly destroying it from the inside out and turning it into literal dust. Not a single bit of biomass could be recovered.
Frankly, if this weapon were used against any other Imperial warship, or the fleet of any faction other than Nurgle, it wouldn't be nearly as effective. The energy required to wither biomass versus metal and minerals was on a completely different level.
"Captain, we've detected a Tyranid node-beast near the beacon tower. A Hive Tyrant."
At that moment, Ai-yi, now in her physical body, suddenly reported to Zhou Ye, catching his attention.
"A Hive Tyrant. Excellent. I was just in need of a live specimen. Everyone, prepare to board. We're going to capture the Tyrant alive. Also, drop one Emperor Titan battle group. The other two will support the other planets."
Zhou Ye nodded. It was worth mentioning that the three Emperor Titan battle groups he brought this time were not the same three he had taken to Macragge.
After Prometheus had pulled him into the Titans' internal chat group, his eyes had been opened. He never would have guessed that these AI, who appeared so taciturn on the outside, were so emotionally rich. Although he hadn't said a word or revealed himself, Zhou Ye had still made adjustments. All Titan battle groups were now on a rotation system. Two would defend the home worlds while the other three would deploy with him. Upon hearing this news, the entire AI inner circle had rejoiced.
Zhou Ye had a headache over it. They were all his creations, or his children, in a way. He cared about their overall well-being, so he had made the biggest personnel changes he could within acceptable limits.
At the very least, upon hearing they were being deployed, morale in the AI inner circle was sky-high.
"I even prepared blank Armed Puppet bodies for them to use as vessels, honestly… Thank goodness for Prometheus, otherwise these AI might all turn into problem children."
Zhou Ye muttered to himself, then led his Honor Guard and six Custodes to the teleportarium. On that note, his Custodian Guard now numbered eleven, including the Grey Knight's tutor.
One of them, serving as the leader of the five-thousand-strong Trailblaze expeditionary force, had left with Guilliman, along with the Grey Knight Grand Master. What Zhou Ye couldn't get over, however, was that the Grand Master, a man several centuries old, had cried like a sniveling grot when he left.
Of the remaining nine, three, including the Trailblaze Grey Knights' Custodian tutor, were left to guard his capital. This was a war against Tyranids; he didn't have much use for the Grey Knights.
Two others were acting as his full regents in his absence. These Custodes were not just Zhou Ye's ceremonial guard; they had a more important mission as his advisory council.
To fulfill this duty, these Custodes had to spend their spare time in a time-accelerated chamber, cramming knowledge on politics, economics, art, science… almost everything. They also represented Zhou Ye's absolute authority.
The authority to execute first and report later—a royal prerogative.
They were an extension of Zhou Ye's will. This was the Warhammer universe, a world that needed an absolute ruler, or even a tyrant.
So they needed to learn many, many things. One of their duties was to manage the fifty-one worlds under Zhou Ye's direct rule and the thousands of systems under his influence while he was on a "grand expedition." Their existence had also significantly lightened Klee's workload.
Those two were currently with Klee, acting as her assistants and handling all sorts of miscellaneous affairs.
Only they could do it. The planetary governor who had followed Zhou Ye, after mountains and seas of overtime, had finally… gone completely insane last year. And this was with the assistance of Prometheus and a large number of Astartes.
No matter how much a person craved power, how much could that desire cover? One planet? Two? Ten? A hundred? But when faced with the complex affairs of thousands of worlds, the desire for power exceeds the limits of the flesh.
What remains is not ambition, but a soul-deep fatigue and responsibility.
Of course, Zhou Ye was merciful. After curing him, the former governor submitted his resignation. After a frantic internal power struggle, a man in his forties took over the position of Zhou Ye's Prime Minister.
He was still a mortal, of course, but unlike the Imperial Prime Minister, his burden would be much lighter.
As for the original planetary governor, he would enjoy a retirement of about a hundred years.
---o---
On the planet below, the Cadians, their Lord General, and the local Sector Governor all stared at the sky with utter shock.
The foul atmosphere obscured their view of space, but they could still perceive the countless flashes of brilliant light and the massive warships arriving from across the stars.
At that moment, anyone who could, fell to their knees. They watched the glorious spectacle in the heavens and the meteor-like streaks of light, tears streaming down their faces.
"The Emperor protects!!!"
"Praise the Lord of Trailblaze… and the Emperor!!!"
The people now understood the meaning of salvation, the meaning of hope in the midst of despair.
Hope remains. Hope has appeared!!!
---o---